Moving Ships - what's the big deal

sparouty,
Thanks for providing the live link for downloading Lamont Clarke's AI Boat Traffic Compiler. I got mine from another SOH member, didn't know it was still available. I wish Lamont would update his website or upload his programs to Flightsim or elsewhere, he's done some good programs. Also thanks to everybody else who's posted with more links, the fsdeveloper site has the carrier info that should've been in the SDK.
 
TARPSBird said:
... I wish Lamont would update his website or upload his programs to Flightsim or elsewhere, he's done some good programs.
Click to expand...

He left the development aspect a loonnngggg time ago. He may still be out there, somewhere? His work was/is appreciated and it's a shame he decided to stop.
 
A few others that are also in another thread but can't find it to link to it lol:
 
Hi,Carrier landing would not be the same without moving ship. Its really a great add to FSX.With great free addon ships like the Nimitz, The Clemenceau and The Ark Royal.Lazarus sound fun what you create any chance you can release those traffic bgl files.
 
This tailhook stuff gets a little more fun when you can finally launch off the front end after surviving landing on the back end! No nose-overs, cart-wheels, or dunkings. :icon_lol: Paul Clawson's BT-1 launching from the Flying Stations HMS Victorious off Scapa Flow.
 
Well done Tarps, I had a hook setup ready to pass on for that one but I see you have cracked both, personally I would have left the cat launch off as FSX launches too fast and you would probably left your wings behind.

So now you are on your own.

Rich
 
Hi Folks

Rich said:
I am probably being dimmer than usual here but could you please elaborate on what you are talking about.
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Rich -
Sylvain's refering to the article, reminded me of the outstanding issue.

As the article's creator
I'd like to be able to correct any information
so I can finalise the article and remove the WIP Category classifier. :kilroy:

HTH
ATB
Paul
 
Rich said:
...personally I would have left the cat launch off as FSX launches too fast and you would probably left your wings behind.
Rich
Click to expand...
No kidding! That poor BT-1 went off the bow like it was shot from a cannon. The pilot and gunner suffered whiplash and I just got a nasty phone call from the Flight Surgeon. :icon_lol: I did a cut-and-paste with the launch bar entries from Tim's Spad, worked like a champ. I think the Arrestor Cables program launches a bit more realistically speed wise, but since most folks prefer to deck launch the tail-draggers it's no big deal.

BTW Rich, in your Manila Bay carrier bgl's I can see Ark Royal but Victorious does not appear. I have both CV's and both bgl's installed in FSX. At 10:00 am should they both be in close proximity to each other in the bay, or is Vic out in the South China Sea somewhere?
 
fsafranek said:
A sudden interest in carrier landing has me wondering a few of things.

1) How important are moving ships? And in particular aircraft carriers?

2) If they are moving how can you navigate to them and find them in the fog? Aren't the navaids at a fixed location?

3) Since FSX Acceleration includes the ability to launch and trap (I think) are the third party programs that make this possible necessary?

There are many things that are possible in FSX that seem to be "expected" these days. Is moving ships one of those "must haves" or is/was this just a passing fad?

Just curious.
:ernae:
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Hello Frank,

Yours is a basicallyl a philosophical question - the answer to which is a function of your FS interests. As an analogy, one could ask the same of the hugely detailed airport addons - are they a must have? Well, I don't fly modern commercial airliners, so I personally wouldn't pay a dollar for such a product. Why? It's just not my thing. But there are sim pilots who want to simulate the airline flying experience - and if that's your thing, then I can totally understand why you'd get excited about an airport addon that allows you to see individual pieces of luggage get trundled out the to plane, or ultra realistic gates, fuel bowsers, etc. To simulate that experience, those components contribute heavily.

The same with naval aviation. If you have at least a strong curiousity about the subject, then there are certain key components that contribute strongly to the realism of that experience. FS9 brought us catapult and arrested landing programmes (3Wire and RCBCO) and realistic-looking wakes. They were the cat's meow at the time. But landable ships were all static. FSX Acceleration brought us moving+landable ships. I'm going to argue that's the single most important component of realism needed for that experience, second only to perhaps the arrested landing function.

Addon programmes? AI Carriers - must have, in my opinion. Once configured, you can spawn a particular carrier (or other boat) fleet anwhere, at stroke of key. Utterly amazing and power - and easy to use - utility. If you want to make existing boat tracks, then Lamont's AI Boat tool is also a must - though I haven't used it myself yet.

3rd party cat/trap programmes? I don't use them anymore - I simply use the default Accel cat/trap function, but I know Rich, Expat, and other are big fans of RCBCO 3.0. The two ways I think these are still relevant in FSX are a) static carriers, and b) I believe RCBCO allows carriers launches for slower aircraft (default FSX Accel launch is fixed for F/A-18 sized aircraft) even on moving carriers. The latter function is reasonable consideration - for planes that are neither slow and light enough to launch without a catapult, nor fast and heavy to warrant getting rocketed out at 220 kts over the bow. I wish that the default Accel catapult had adjustable force - that would make things easy.

Regardless of personal preferences, the early (Javier Nimitz), current (Clem, Ark Royal) and upcoming (Flying Stations Victorious 1944) development of FSX AI carriers is proof of their legitimate value to FSX naval aviation, and not merely a "fad". Furthermore, as Rich and other point out, there are a couple dozen or more FSX-native fantastic carrier planes now available, and around dozen or so more coming from various devs.

Apart from the naval carrier thing, moving boats allows for civilian/commercial ops: there are coast guard cutters, yachts, and a whole host of other sim possibilities that moving boat traffic makes possible.

So - the question is not whether moving boat traffic is truly needed - the question is whether or not you are interested in a realistic FSX naval/marine aviation experience. If not, then this discussion is all moot. But if you are, it truly is an exciting, challenging, and rewarding way to engage in FSX.

:ernae:

dl
 
Hi Letourn. Sorry to say; I have no idea how to write BGL's. I use AI carrier and a 'kluge' that was in the readme file with Tim Conrads MAB AI (FS.com?) It was a hack around for AI carriers not launching- Paste a shortcut to AI Carriers to desktop. you minimise the sim to desk top with the sim running, and right click the AI Carr shortcut, run as admin ( not really sure if required) minimise the window that says' connected to FSX' you can start multiple AI Carr windows, and in the sim toolbar under add-ons you will see all the AI Carr tabs, from where you launch your fleets like usual. Its interesting- read 'high cockpit work load' to run 8-10 different formations , really so when working the littorals, much easier with more searoom, and that Nimrod radar gauge is an invaluable tool for plotting, tracking, and navigating AI formations. I can post my AI Carriers config file when I get home tonight, , which will give you the formations to use, once you get all the ships in. One of the coolest Traffic BGL's for pacific naval ops is DWSO's(? David?...) Solomon Island tracks and Mark's Solomons scenery- a stagering scenery project that is!
BTW, LouP...How in the devil did you get the Bourbon Orca's helipad to work. I put mine in AI Carr, but I sink right through the deck- no pad there.
 
Hi,
Interesting discussion...I will try to add some details to what has been said...


BASys said:
Rich -
AIUI, Sylvain has figured out how to address this.

Not sure if its related to the CatapultForceLimiter variable.
See FSDeveloper - Wiki - Catapult/Arrestor Operations (FSXA) - Configuring (FSXA)
Click to expand...


Paul, unfortunatelly, I don' t have any explanation/clue on this feature. The solution I have been worked on is a work-around that give an acceptable result...

delta_lima said:
3rd party cat/trap programmes? I don't use them anymore - I simply use the default Accel cat/trap function, but I know Rich, Expat, and other are big fans of RCBCO 3.0. The two ways I think these are still relevant in FSX are a) static carriers, and b) I believe RCBCO allows carriers launches for slower aircraft (default FSX Accel launch is fixed for F/A-18 sized aircraft) even on moving carriers. The latter function is reasonable consideration - for planes that are neither slow and light enough to launch without a catapult, nor fast and heavy to warrant getting rocketed out at 220 kts over the bow. I wish that the default Accel catapult had adjustable force - that would make things easy.
Click to expand...

The best way to explain what my work-around is made of is to start from DeltaLima words.
In one hand you have Acceleration feature that manage positioning and holdback fixation and blastshield animation but launch with far too much strengh for some light plane.
In other hand, you have RCBCO 3.0 that manage a adjusting launch speed but a fixed coordinates positioning.

My idea was to merge both solution taking best part from each feature:
- the positioning, launchbar and blastshield animation is done by FSX/Acc functionalities
- Launch is done by RCBCO 3.0 's dll

I made a small xml code which:
- calculates the launch speed required taking account weight, air speed on the deck, and plane properties (max gross weight and design speed)
- manage the launch process step by step including some control that FSX didn't took into consideration (throttle, flaps) and local variable to help my carrier model to animate the shooter officer.
- Fire the launch with the appropriate speed

With the courtesy of Rob Barendregt and Doug Dawson (thanks again!!) this small gauge has been packaged with the Etendard and the Zephyr, and I'm working on adapting it to Dino's T45c.

There are 2 issues with this solution:
- I don't succed in managing the catapult vapor effects...
- the launch is done by increasing speed but not acceleration so you don't have any G effect during the launch. It seems that FSUIPC and/or Simconnect doesn't overide the acceleration value...
To my own point of view these two points are minor and fully acceptable...:icon_lol:

Reagards
S.
 
Hi Folks

Sylvain -
My apologies, I'd misunderstood,
thinking you had a purely FSXA solution.



Your alternative implementation sounds a good workaround.



PS
Had you ever tried CatapultForceLimiter=0

Supposedly -
Enables the catapult systems to generate the required force for any type of aircraft.

I've never gotten round to testing it.



HTH
ATB
Paul
 
Lazarus,
I am already using Carrier Tracks 1 & 2 but never saw this package Solomon Island 1943 sound really fun. Thanks

Maybe someone can help i cant find the scenery "Solomon Island 1943 Mark Schimmer" from the download page.

Sylvain,
Can you also try your fix on the F/A-18 Acceleration. I would be nice to finally Cat at full military power instead of Idle power to have the right speed at the ramp.

let
 
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